One part of learning Polish is still thoroughly breaking my head: się. I've been told it's similar to German's sie, although not speaking German that doesn't help me ;-)
So then, why do we have: Jak się masz, and not Jak masz? And why do you use it in sometihng like: Podobasz mi się twój... ?
Right now I'm finding it impossible to predict where I should or should not use it, not to mention why it's used at all. Help!
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viraptor
I can't explain the official reasons, but:
Pronunciation is available here: http://pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/si%C4%99
It's got different functions, but usually it's similar to myself, yourself, herself, etc. So if you're washing yourself it's "Myję się" and if you're washing something else, it's "Myję XXX". "Ona myje się" means "She washes herself" too. Usually "się" points the action at the same person... which explains its name "zaimek zwrotny".
There are some verbs that require "się" - they just don't exist on their own in any form. Like "śmiać się" (to laugh). (which kind of makes sense, because they always affect the same person, you cannot "laugh somebody" ;) )
Maybe someone else can explain the "why" and "when" part.
PS: It's "Podoba mi się twój XXX", not "Podobasz ..."
erikbrandstadmoen
I don't speak Polish, but it seems like the Polish "się" is actually a reflexive pronoun, used in several languages, in conjunction with reflexive verbs. We have it in Norwegian as well ("seg", meaning "oneself" or "meg", meaning "myself", "deg", meaning "yourself"). French has it, in e.g. "se baigner" (to bathe oneself). And I'm sure lots of other languages has it too.